Thread winding apparatus



Feb. 5, 1963 R. F. BAER THREAD WINDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 12, 1960 m w Wm a W 5 w R z w m n 6 Tit H I H 2 wwmfik fi -m i W n w 7/ //////////////////////A//////// A Feb. 5, 1963 R. F. BAER THREAD WINDING APPARATUS 5 Sheds-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 12, 1960 Win Russel F Bae Feb. 5, 1963 R. F. BAER 3,0 THREAD WINDING APPARATUS 1 Filed Sept, 12. 1960 asheets-s'fim :s-

Q I INVENTOR Russel E Baler 7%, A ORNEY Feb. 5, 1963 R. F. BAER 3,076,614

THREAD WINDING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 12, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Russel E Bqer Feb. 5, 1963 R. F. BAER THREAD wmomc APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Shad, 5

Filed Sept. 12, 1960 INVENTOR Russel E Baer BY 76Mz6. A ORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,076,614 I' 'atented Feb. 5, 1963 3,076,614 THREAD WINDING APPARATUS Russel F. Baer, Decatur, Ala., assignor, by mcsne assignments, to Monsanto Chemical Company, a corporation of. Delaware Filed Sept. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 55,506 8 Claims. (Cl. 242-18) This invention relates to thread winding apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for the safe, rapid and "problem is aggravated byals'o involving a hazard to the operators. This results from the fact that high strength threads of moderate or high denier are capable of drawingan operator into the running machinery. Thus, not only is it desirable to avoid waste inthe dofiing phase of the winding of nylon andlike high strength yarns, but it is necessary 'to-perform the operation under circumstances such that the operator is not required closely to approach the machine when the thread path is sufiiciently out of control that there is danger of being ensnared by the running yarn.

Prior art automatic dotting devices are known but none of themfunctions adequately in both avoiding waste and protecting the operator in dealing with high strength, continuousfilament material.

It is therefore an object of this inventionto overcome the foregoing deficiencies and toprovide-doffing apparatus for handling high strength yarns under safe conditions whileat the same time totally avoiding the production of waste incident to the removal of a full bobbin from winding position and the; substitution in that position of an empty bobbin.

. According to the present invention, bobbin holders are 'provided which are mounted to rotate sequentially through three stages or positions: a winding-on stage, a dofling stage, and a ready stage. Movements between the ready stageand thedofiing stage are entirely automatic, wastefree, rapid and safe. Movement from the dofling stage 'tothe ready stage is manual but is performed under conditions such that the prior. action of the machine protects the operator against danger. Furthermore, the time requirements of'the niovementfrom the dotlingposition to the ready position are only thatthefunction be performed before a fully wound package can be produced at the winding station, a matter of some hours.

Other; objectscand advantagesof thisinvention'will be apparent upon consideration-of the following detailed descriptionaof. a. preferred embodiment thereof in conjunction with the, annexed. drawings .wherein:

FIGURE. 1 isa view inzside elevationofanylon winding. machine equipped with the dofling arrangement of the: present invention, one bobbin being shown in the readyvpositiomand the othen in the winding position in the fully wound condition that prevails just before the doff, the motor, driveassembly being removed for convenience of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is aview similar. to FIGURE 1, but showing afresh bobbin moved in from the ready position to the winding position andgthe fullbobbin in the deli position;

FIGURE 3 is a view in elevation of the-machine of 'FIGURESI and- 2brt with the motor. drive assembly shownancl with the bobbinsin the brokengline position of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view in front elevationof the machine of FIGURES l, 2 and 3 with'the bobbins inthe FIGURE 3 position;

FIGURE 5- is a view partially in side elevation and partially in sectionshowing the connection between the two bobbin supports in the FIGURE 3 positionand the manner in which they are mounted for and driven between the ready, winding and' dofiing positions; and

FIGURE 6 is a view in cross-section taken alongthe line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

In FIGURE 1 a high strength synthetic'yarn 10 is shown guided by a pigtail guide 11' to a-traverse mechanism 12 of conventional construction from which it passes between a bobbin driving cylinder- 13 and a yarn package 14 which has been built up on-the bobbin 15. Bobbin 15 is a hollow cylinder and is mounted'over a-cylindrical holder 16 which in turn is pivotally mounted onan arm 17 for free rotation; Another bobbin 18 is similarly moiuntedon aholder 19 which in turn ispivotally mountedon the-end of an arm20. The arms lT'and 20 have integral hubs at the ends opposite tothe endswhich support the bobbin holders andfithese. hubs are mounted for pivotal movement about a shaft21l- The shaft 21' is sup ported. from an arm 22' which is pivotally supported at 23 from a bracket 24. An extension 25 of the lever 22 beyond the pivot point 23 is connected to a counter weight 26. It. can be seen that the counter weight26nfunctions to'biasthe lever 22 in a counterclockwise direction about its=pivot23, as the machine is viewed in FIGURE 1. A. spring 27' connected toza bar running lengthwise of the; machine functions to assist the counter. weight.

Each ofthe bobbins 15 and 18'is removable from its respective holder 16 or Why a release mechanism of conventional design which serves to .shrink the bobbin holder circumferentially.suflicientlytowpermit the bobbin to be removed from the holder. These well-known devices are designated by numerals 28 and29:respectively.

Before; describing, in detail theistructure by operation of which the bobbins are moved. from. thewinding to the dofI-totheready positions; it may be well to refer to the result" which is sought to ,beachie'ved. In FIGURE I, the-body ofthread 14 on thebobbin'15'is about atthe diameter desired for afully wound bobbin. Thisinvention=providesa way by which the bobbin,.18-canbe substituted forthe bobbin 151 at the Winding position without 'a waste of yarn or interruption. of the running of thread -ltlor danger to the operator. To-takeadvantage of this, the operator energizesan electriccircuit which causes a motor to'move arms-17 and 20 together in fixedangular relationship in an anticlockwise direction, untilthe surface of the bobbin 18 contacts the drive roller 13. By this time-the bobbin 15'is in the FIGURE 2-position'and the thread path has been stretched to run tangentially between the driving rollers 13 and the surface of the yarn'body 14 resulting in-engagement thereof with a cutting notch in the surface-of. the bobbin. Each of bobbins 15 and Y18 -is provided with-such. a notch on its surface (see FIGURE 4 alt-31 and32). The yarn is bro ten Whenit enters the notch 31 or 32 as the case maybe and the notch grips it enough so that the yarnbegins' to wind onto thebobbin :whichis in peripheral contact with the driving roller 13.

Thus, the bobbin isautomatically threaded and winding on commences according to the pattern produced by the traverse 12 which runs continuously throughout-the dofl.

Once the yarn running to the yarn body 14 is severed and the bobbin15 ceases to turn, there is no longer any hazard incident to approachingthe bobbin 15; the running yarn being at this stage laidup on the bobbin 18. The operator may therefore actuate the release 28 and remove the bobbin 15 from the holder 16, replac ng it with a similar empty bobbin. In this case the bobbin on support 16 is designated as bobbin 15 regardless of whether it is full or empty, it being apparent that, after a the dofi, the empty bobbin which is placed over support 16 is not actually the very same one which was removed but instead another like it. The doffing operation is now complete and the operator next manually moves the nowempty bobbin 15 up to the ready position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 2.

The equipment by which the foregoing operation is performed will now be described. Concurrent reference is made to FIGURES 4, and 6. It can be seen that the arm 22 carries thereon two brackets 33 and 34. Bolted to these is a support bracket 35 from which there depends an electric motor 36 and a gear box 37 establishing a drive connection of suitable gear ratio between the motor 36 and an output shaft 38 of the gear box which is keyed to shaft 21. The gear box 37 contains a worm and pinion gear arrangement so that the output shaft 38 and the shaft 21 cannot be rotated by a heavy bobbin. The shaft 21 is mounted for rotation in a bearing 39 supported from the end of the support arm 22. Central of shaft 21 is a threaded zone 40 to which there is threaded a manually operable friction clutch 41 which can be moved from left to right on the shaft 21 by rotating it, using for this purpose handles 42. Bearings 43 mount the integral hub of arm 20 for pivotal movement about the shaft 21 and similar bearings 44 similarly mount the integral hub of the arm 17. A cap 45 is screwed onto the end of shaft 21 at a threaded area 46 and this cap acts to receive the axial thrust which results from turning the clutch 41 so that it moves toward the cap 45, left to right as seen in FIGURE 5. As this movement takes place, the hubs of the arms 20 and 17 are squeezed together to such an extent that they move as a unit with shaft 21 when that shaft is actuated by reason of actuation of the motor 36.

The hub of the arm 20 has an arcuate groove 47 in it which extends for little more than 180. Set in this groove is a pin 48 which is fixed in and projects from the face of the hub of the arm 17. The pin 48 and the groove 47 together provide a lost motion connection which is used in transferring a bobbin from the doffing position (the position occupied by the bobbin in FIGURE 2) to the ready position (the broken line position of the same bobbin also in FIGURE 2).

When the full bobbin has reached the desired package diameter as depicted in FIGURE 1, the operator actuates the motor 36 from a switch remote from the apparatus so that the operator is saved the hazard of too closely approaching the running machine during the doif. Operation of the motor 36 causes the shaft 21 to turn in a counterclockwise direction as that shaft is viewed in FIGURE 2. This movement continues until the bobbin 18 peripherally contacts the drive roller 13, whereupon the motor 36 is either automatically or manually stopped. As soon as the bobbin 18 peripherally contacts the drive roller 13, it is driven thereby. The thread is cut in the manner previously described and the operator, at his leisure, removes the thread package from the holder 16. He then releases the clutch 41 by unscrewing it, that is, moving it away from the cap 45 as viewed in FIGURE 5 until the arms 17 and are again freely relatively movable about shaft 21. Its own weight plus the weight of whatever thread is wound on it holds the bobbin 18 against the drive roller 13 and the bobbin 15 will simply swing relative to it to a vertical position below the shaft 21 until the operator manually moves it counterclockwise through the are shown by the arrows in FIGURE 2. During this movement the arms 17 and 20 move relatively until the lost motion connection provided by the slot 47 and the pin arrests the movement at the ready position shown in full lines in FIGURE 3 and the broken lines in FIGURE 2. At this point the operator tightens the clutch in preparation for the next doff at which time the cycle is repeated, except that now the full bobbin is bobbin 18 and the empty one is bobbin 15.

With the motor and gear box mounted on the end of lever 22 and with the relatively heavy package 14 effectively also mounted on arm 22, it can be seen that the counterweight 26 and spring 27 are necessary to prevent excessive pressures between the bobbin in the winding position and the drive cylinder 13. Further along these lines, there is provided a stop at 49, see each of FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, said stop having to limit clockwise movement of the arm 22 about pivot 23.

From all of the foregoing it can be seen that each of the bobbin supports 16 and 19 moves cyclically through each of three stages or positions in making a single revolution about shaft 21. Each support 1619 moves by reason of the drive from motor 36 from the ready position (support 16 in FIGURE 3) to the winding position (support 19 in FIGURE 3) and to the doffing position (support 16 in FIGURE 1). The supports are moved manually in relation to one another from the full line to the broken line positions in support 16 in FIGURE 2. All movements are counterclockwise as viewed in FIG- URE 1.

What is claimed is:

A device for waste-free doffing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, a bobbin drive, means mounting each of said supports for sequential movement from a winding position in which its bobbin is in driven relation to said drive to a dofiing position and then to a ready position, means interconnecting said bobbin supports so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the dofling position, each bobbin support being independently movable from the dofiing position to the ready position, drive means for moving the interconnected bobbin supports from one position to another, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position and means responsive to the movement of a bobbin to the dofiing position to sever the thread and cause the running end to be wound onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position from the ready position.

2. A device for waste-free dofiing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, a bobbin drive, means mounting each of said supports for sequential movement from a winding position in which its bobbin is in driven relation to said drive to a doffing position and then to a ready position, means for locking said bobbin supports together so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the doffing position, means to drive said locked supports between said ready and dofiing positions, each bobbin support being independently movable from the doffing position to the ready position, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position and means responsive to the movement of that bobbin to the doffing position to sever the thread and cause the running end to be wound onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position from the ready position.

3. A device for waste-free dofiing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, a bobbin drive, means mounting each of said supports for sequential movement from a winding position in which its bobbin is in driven relation to said drive to a doffing position and then to a ready position and means interconnecting said bobbin supports so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the dotfing position, each bobbin support being independently movable from the doffing position to the ready position, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position, remotely controllable means for driving said bobbins in interconnected condition, one of said bobbins moving from the winding position to the dofiing position while the other bobbin is moving from the ready position to the winding position, and means responsive to the movement of a bobbin to the dotting position to sever the thread running to it and to cause the running end to be wound onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position from the ready position.

4. A device for waste-free dofling of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of freely rotatable bobbin supports, a peripheral bobbin drive, arms mounting each of said supports for unidirectional, sequential arcuate movement from a winding position in which the bobbin on the support is in driven relation to said peripheral drive to a dotting position and then to a ready position, a quickly releasable friction clutch interconnecting said arms so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the dofiing position, motor means for driving the arms to carry the bobbins from one position to another, each bobbin support being independently movable from the dofling position to the ready position upon disengagement of said clutch, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position and means responsive to the transfer of that bobbin to the doffing position to sever the thread and to cause the running end to be wound onto a bobbin on the support which moves into the winding position from the ready position.

5. A device for waste-free dofiing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of freely rotatable bobbin supports, a peripheral bobbin drive, arms mounting each of said supports for unidirectional sequential arcuate movement from a winding position in which the bobbin on the support is in driven relation to said peripheral drive to a dofling position and then to a ready position, a quickly releasable frictional clutch interconnecting said arms so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the clotting position, remotely controllable motor means for driving said supports through said clutch, each bobbin support being independently movable from the doffing position to the ready position upon disengagement of said clutch, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position and means responsive to the transfer of that bobbin to the dotting position to sever the thread and to cause the running end to be wound onto a bobbin on the support which moves into the winding position from the ready position.

6. A device for waste-free dofiing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, means mounting said supports for unidirectional, arcuate movement about a common axis through a winding position, a dofiing position and a ready position in repeated cycles, releasable means for locking said supports for movement together about said common axis and means limiting the magnitude of the relative angular displacement of said supports about said axis when said locking means is released, remotely controllable means for concurrently moving one of said supports from the ready position to the winding position while moving the other from the winding position to the dofiing position, means automatically to transfer the running thread from the bobbin on the support moving to the dofiing position onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position whereby the dofling can be accomplished without loss of yarn and without the necessity of the operator to approach the machine.

7. A device for waste-free doffing of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, a bobbin drive, an arm, means mounting said arm for limited pivotal movement, means mounting each of said supports from said arm at a point remote from its pivot for sequential movement from a winding position in which its bobbin is in driven relation to said drive to a dofling position and then to a ready position and means interconnecting said bobbin supports so that movement of one from the ready position to the winding position is accompanied by movement of the other from the winding position to the dofling position, each bobbin support being independently movable from the dofiing position to the ready position, means continuously to deliver thread to the bobbin on the support in winding position, remotely controllable means for moving said bobbins in interconnected condition, one of said bobbins moving from the winding position to the dofiing position while the other bobbin is moving from the ready position to the winding position, and means responsive to the movement of that bobbin to the dofiing position to sever the thread and cause the running end to be wound onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position from the ready position.

8. A device for waste-free dotting of a continuous filament collecting device which comprises a pair of bobbin supports, an arm, means mounting said arm for limited pivotal movement, means mounting said supports on said arm remote from its pivot for unidirectional arcuate movement about a common axis through a winding position, a dofiing position and a ready position in repeated cycles, releasable means for locking said supports for movement together about said common axis and means limiting the magnitude of the relative angular displacement of said supports about said axis when said locking means is released, remotely controllable means for concurrently moving one of said supports from the ready position to the winding position while the other is moved from the winding position to the dofling position, means automatically to transfer the running thread from the bobbin on the support moving to the dofiing position onto the bobbin on the support moving into the winding position whereby the doffing can be accomplished without loss of yarn and without the necessity of the operator to approach the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,919,456 Wolf July 25, 1933 2,789,774 Petersen et al. Apr. 23, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 874,945 Germany Apr. 27, 953 815,690 Great Britain July 1, 1959 

1. A DEVICE FOR WASTE-FREE DOFFING OF A CONTINUOUS FILAMENT COLLECTING DEVICE WHICH COMPRISES A PAIR OF BOBBIN SUPPORTS, A BOBBIN DRIVE, MEANS MOUNTING EACH OF SAID SUPPORT FOR SEQUENTIAL MOVEMENT FROM A WINDING POSITION IN WHICH ITS BOBBIN IS IN DRIVEN RELATION TO SAID DRIVE TO A DOFFING POSITION AND THEN TO A READY POSITION, MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID BOBBIN SUPPORTS SO THAT MOVEMENT OF ONE FROM THE READY POSITION TO THE WINDING POSITION IS ACCOMPANIED BY MOVEMENT OF THE OTHER FROM THE WINDING POSITION TO THE DOFFING POSITION, EACH BOBBIN SUPPORT BEING INDEPENDENTLY MOVABLE FROM THE DOFFING POSITION TO THE READY POSITION, DRIVE MEANS FOR MOVING THE INTERCONNECTED BOBBIN SUPPORTS FROM ONE POSITION TO ANOTHER, MEANS CONTINUOUSLY TO DELIVER THREAD TO THE BOBBIN ON THE SUPPORT IN WINDING POSITION AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE MOVEMENT OF A BOBBIN TO THE DOFFING POSITION TO SEVER THE THREAD AND CAUSE THE RUNNING END TO BE WOUND ONTO THE BOBBIN ON THE SUPPORT MOVING INTO THE WINDING POSITION FROM THE READY POSITION. 